Lady Fair
by Cora Summers
Summary: Set in Midevil times, Alex and Olivia are best friends and members of the Royal court. Alex is content to just stay in the castle, not wanting to experience things outside of the kingdom. Olivia, however wants to get out, see the world, and help people. A
1. Chapter 1

I don't own the Characters. They are the property of Dick Wolf and NBC.

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Lady Alexandra Cabot had always led a privileged life. She was the only child of Lord and Lady Cabot, who both doted on her. Her family was among those of the highest rank in the kingdom. She had servants waiting on her hand and foot and she never lacked for someone to talk to, whether it was her friends or the castle guards. She could get anyone to listen to her.

Right now though, she was looking for one friend in particular. Her best friend, in fact, Lady Olivia Benson. Olivia had not been so lucky. She was the daughter of Lord and Lady Benson. Before Olivia had been born, her father, a decorated soldier for the realm, had been killed in battle. Lady Serena had been heartbroken but was determined to stay strong for her child. Unfortunately she hadn't been quite strong enough. The day she went into labor, Lady Serena had survived long enough to give the child a name and leave her in the care of the king's scholars.

Olivia was very mature for her age. Forced to grow up early on in life, she was able to make her decisions for herself. Normally, King Cragen would have preferred if the young ladies of the realm had someone to oversee their actions, but he had watched Olivia grow up and knew all of her decisions were made with a considerable amount of thought behind them. It was because of this Olivia was able to study such things as fencing and how to plan a battle.

Alex was spending the summer season at the castle with Olivia. After hours of searching for her, Alex decided she would check to see if Olivia was in the Armory. Nearing the room, she could hear the familiar voice of her best friend, along with the voice of her fencing tutor, Sir Elliot.

Alex smiled. If she hadn't known any better she would have sworn Elliot and Olivia were brother and sister. The duo had practically grown up together. Elliot was from a long line of knights. His father had served with Lord Benson. After Olivia's parents had passed on, the Stabler's had made it a point to check up on Olivia every now and then. They had hoped to pair young Elliot and Olivia for marriage, but they both shuddered at the thought of marrying each other.

It was then that Katharine Warren caught his eye. When they met, Katharine had been training to become a royal midwife. While Katharine had been below Elliot's station, the elder Sir Stabler believed a match should be made for love and not profit so he allowed the match. Now married, they are expecting their first child.

Alex opened the door to the armory and just watched for moment. While she was in the privacy of the castle or in her lessons, Olivia chose to wear men's clothes. While Olivia did look lovely when she was dressed for a ball, or venturing out in society, Alex decided the men's clothes seemed to be more suited for her best friend. Alex imagined it was for more convenient. She could only imagine the difficulties of trying to engage in a sword fight while wearing a dress.

Neither Olivia nor Elliot had noticed her yet and she didn't think this battle would be over for a while. She decided to see if she could speed things along. "When you two are quite finished," she called out, "I need to borrow Olivia."

Startled by the sudden presence, Elliot stumbled, leaving him open to the "killing" blow Olivia executed. "That's not fair," Elliot whined. "Alex distracted me."

Olivia laughed at him. "You can't blame your loss on a distraction, Elliot," she told him. She gave Alex a small wink and a big grin. Alex just smiled back.

"Well, it doesn't help that you probably already knew she was there. You two always seem to sense when the other is around. You don't even have to look." Elliot crossed his arms and his face contorted into a pout.

"Honestly, Elliot, you look like a child," Alex laughed.

Elliot only scowled at her. He really didn't like to lose. "I have to go anyway. Katharine is expecting me." He bid the ladies goodbye and left the room.

Olivia turned to Alex, smile still in place. "Was that really necessary?"

"What?" Alex asked, feigning innocence. "I knew if left on your own, you two would be going at it until you exhausted each other. I just decided to help things along."

"He's right you know," Olivia told her. "We always do seem to be able to sense when the other is around. Why do you think that is?"

"We have known each other since we were five years old. That's almost fifteen years. You didn't meet Elliot until we were eight. Why is that by the way? I thought you've known Lord and Lady Stabler forever."

"I have known Lord and Lady Stabler since before I can remember, but Elliot had always been off training with some knight or another. He and his family were here for the festival that year. Remember?"

"Yes now I do. Anyway, put up your knife and let's go," Alex smirked. Olivia hated it when she didn't call various tools and weapons by their proper name.

"Sword," Olivia corrected with a serious face as she proceeded to put her sword away.

"Whatever," Alex said as she turned and smiled.

Olivia just shook her head and smiled as she followed Alex out of the room. "So what was so important that you needed to interrupt my training session?"

"There is a ball tonight and as my best friend it is your job to help be prepare," Alex told her as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

"Allllex?" Now it was Olivia's turn to whine. "Do I have to?"

"Yes," Alex said. "Besides, I'm planning on helping you too."

The ladies continued to walk towards Alex's chambers. Olivia sighed. She knew there was no way she was getting out of this.


	2. Chapter 2

For disclaimer's please see chapter 1

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After making it back to Alex's chambers, Olivia made herself comfortable on Alex's bed, knowing how long it could take the blonde to get ready. Alex, for her part, went straight to the closet and began to rifle through the dresses she owned. She pulled a few out, and held them all up against her body and turning to Olivia for a verdict. According to Olivia's reaction, she would then decide which ones she would try on.

Olivia, who had always hated picking clothes for herself, had a great time picking things for Alex. Today, however, something was different. Olivia couldn't help but take in Alex's entire appearance. Not just the dress, but how it draped her form, or clung to different parts of her body. She noticed that her heart beat sped up as she watched Alex strip down to her under garments, or how her breath seemed to hitch when she caught the swell of a breast. Instead of trying to put too much thought into her reactions to her best friend, Olivia just attributed it to the work out she had just gone through. Shaking herself out of her thought, she brought her attention back to the task at hand and gave Alex her opinion.

"I think you should go with the blue one," Olivia told her. "It brings out the color of your eyes."

Blushing at the compliment, Alex busied herself with setting the dress aside and picking out other things she could where for the night. "Good," Alex said. "Now that we have that taken care of we can go choose your ensemble."

At first, Olivia's only response was to shrug. She watched as Alex crossed her arms and gave her a pointed stare that made her feel as though she was in council with the king. "Fine, whatever," Olivia sighed. "But you know that I'm just going to wear whatever you pick out." Olivia stood and made her way out of the room. Alex followed a few paces behind.

"True, but it's so much fun dressing for balls," Alex replied giddily.

"Whatever," Olivia mumbled.

Alex stopped suddenly, causing Olivia to stop also as she could no longer feel her following. "Olivia, why aren't you more excited about this ball?" Alex asked. "I mean picking out a dress and all the eligible suitors waiting to dance with you. And you know that you always have a line of eligible young men mile long at these occasions."

"Alex you know as well as I do that I would be far more comfortable in my tunic for this gathering." Olivia replied. "And as for the suitors, I'm not ready to settle down and become a wife and a mother and mistress of a household."

Alex looked appalled at the suggestion of what her best friend would be wearing. "Olivia, tunics are for knights."

"Yes, and in three months time I will be a knight unless I'm needed before then," Olivia reminded. She knew Alex didn't like to think of Olivia being involved in a battle, but it was something that needed to be discussed every once in a while.

"I don't see why you need to do this, Olivia," Alex sighed.

"Because I'm always hearing about what a great man and a great knight my father was. Maybe this way, I'll feel a little more connected to him," Olivia responded.

"So you're doing this to be closer to a man you've never met?" Alex asked incredulously.

"I don't know. Maybe, but it's not the only reason." Olivia replied.

"What's the other?"

"I need to get out of this castle, further than just the courtyard or the country side immediately surrounding us. I want to see more of the kingdom than what is behind these walls. I want some adventure in my life."

"There is absolutely nothing wrong with this castle, or the country side," Alex told her.

"There is when you've lived here your whole life," Olivia said. "Maybe if King Cragen had allowed me to travel more then I wouldn't need to do this. It was hard enough convincing him to let me become a knight. Without that, the only way out of here would be marriage, and you know that the only offer I've had the would be worth considering, was from that toad of a man Langon. I would rather scale the fiery pits of hell than marry that man."

"Well what is so wrong with Lord Langon?" Alex asked, having only heard of the man in passing and never anything horrible.

"Because he only wants to marry me for my money. He knows that when I came of age, I inherited everything that once belonged to my family. Money, a title, and lands I have never seen." Olivia explained. "And he also knows that there is no one else to control them. I think he thinks I'm naïve enough to think that he can do something for my station if I were to accept him. What he doesn't know, is that the king has been teaching me how to take care of a large village, which is apparently the size of Benson Landing, since I was 15. I can take care of my land and the people living on it with far more compassion than he ever could."

Alex was shocked. She had no idea a man could be so callous and attempt to use a lady in such a way. She had been raised to believe that men, especially men of nobility and knights, we supposed to be chivalrous and put a ladies needs above their own. If anyone asked, Alex would deny it, but she often thought that her future husband would be very much like her best friend. Olivia was caring and strong, determined yet logical. Whenever Alex needed assistance, Olivia was there for her. She always felt safe when Olivia and she walked out in the market 

area. Olivia seemed to have this aura about her that made people who seemed to be looking for trouble stay away, even if she wasn't dressed as a knight. It had also seemed that lately, Alex preferred the company of Olivia over any of the young men in the kingdom. When they weren't together, Alex thought about her all the time, wondering what exactly she was doing and whether or not she was safe. She refused to think about what this might mean, though. "Well surely there are others interested?" Alex suggested.

"None that wouldn't bore me to tears and annoy me to death before we were wed," Olivia laughed.

"Well then, we'll just have to have Elliot introduce you to some of his eligible friends," Alex replied. She nodded as though everything was settled. She started walking back down the corridor towards Olivia's chambers. Olivia rolled her eyes and lightly chuckled. There was no stopping Alex when she was determined to do something. She would much rather spend the rest of her life with her best friend. She only wished that it didn't feel so right.


	3. Chapter 3

For Disclaimers see chapter one

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Olivia didn't think it was possible to become any more bored or uncomfortable than she already was. Alex had chosen deep burgundy dress. She had informed Olivia that brown was far too plain for her, and the burgundy would help bring out the little gold flecks in her eyes, a trait Olivia was still surprised her friend had noticed. Her hair had been another point of uncomfortableness. Alex had insisted she put it up in one of the latest hairstyles. Olivia herself couldn't wait for the day she was officially knighted so it would perfectly alright for her to cut her hair off. Alex had gasped at the suggestion, but once Olivia explained that it could be a liability in battle, she offered to cut it herself. Anything to keep her friend as safe as possible.

In front of her stood Sir Cassidy, a friend of Elliot's who, no doubt, was informed by Alex that he was to introduce his friends to her. He kept jawing away about how he would have lead certain failed attacks and the only thing that ran through her mind was that his attempt would have been far less successful than the original. She could barely suppress her smile when she saw Elliot walking up to her with an apologetic smile.

"Lady Olivia, I apologize, but I must borrow Sir Cassidy. Some of the men would like to hear a few of his battle strategies," Elliot explained. Cassidy beamed with the thought that more people would listen to him.

"Of course, Sir Stabler," Olivia replied graciously. She didn't want to seem too eager to get out of close proximity with this man. "Sir Cassidy it was a pleasure meeting you, and I wish you the best success with your plans." The men bowed while Olivia gave a small curtsey. She sighed in relief as she saw their retreating backs.

"You know, you could have become a performer quite easily, Liv," a voice from behind her said. Olivia smiled, not only at the use of her nickname in what was supposed to be proper society, but also at the sound of her best friend's voice. She turned to see her friend standing with her arms crossed and a smirk firmly in place.

"And how much of that did you see, Alex?" Olivia asked with a small laugh, pleased that out of everyone in the room, Alex wanted to speak with her at the moment.

"Enough to know that you are an incredible actress, Olivia," Alex replied. She didn't want to tell her that she had seen Elliot introduce them, or that she had felt a burning sensation deep within herself at the sight of the two of them talking, even if Olivia was only being polite. For some reason, the thought of any man approaching Olivia made Alex very upset, and she couldn't explain the cause behind it. She now regretted asking Elliot to introduce his friends to Olivia. She decided she would prevent another introduction by coming over and speaking to the beautiful brunette herself. She didn't even pause to think she had just referred to her friend as beautiful. Not only was it true, but it felt natural and right. "Honestly, Liv you were bored out of your mind."

Olivia could only laugh at first. "That may be true, but he didn't need to know that," she responded. "Besides, what are you doing watching me when this room is filled with eligible suitors?"

If Olivia noticed the slight blush presenting itself on Alex's fair skin, she didn't say anything. "All of the men here are boring," Alex complained. "And you were right about Langon. He is a toad. I overheard him saying awful things about you because you rejected him."

Olivia only shrugged. "I don't really care what that man says. The people I care about know the truth and that's all that matters to me."

Alex accepted that answer, and was amazed that Olivia didn't also care what the members of nobility thought of her. They spent the rest of the ball conversing with each other, politely declining any offers made by men who approached them. All in all they had a wonderful time together, totally unaware of the menacing eyes on them.

Lord Langon had been lurking in the shadows all evening, keeping a close eye on Olivia and now his latest prey, Lady Alexandra. Of course, the Cabot's weren't nearly as wealthy as the late Lord and Lady Benson, but with Olivia being in charge of her own affairs, there would be no way he could get his hands on it. It was a very well kept secret that Langon had gambled away all of his family's wealth. The only way for him to maintain his lifestyle was to marry a very wealthy woman. He was still upset that Benson had turned him down, and he knew that in order to get to Alex, he would have to get her out of the picture. If the message her had received earlier that day was any sort of sign, he knew that his plan was already in action. Now all he had to do was be in the right place at the right time, and Alexandra would be his.


End file.
